It was a lot smaller than I remembered.
Nice Chad, and this is what stood out to me. I did not remember the house being so small, especially the bedrooms. I certainly didn't think it was growing up.
First, I'm so glad you had that experience.
But I'm also glad you both said that about "seeming smaller". Similar story; my parents moved to Florida in the early 90's, and I've been back to my town maybe three times? It was a couple years ago now, but I took my daughter to see my house and a couple other landmarks (I grew up on a lake and have experiences like TAC with going down there with my walkman) and the enduring memory was... it was so SMALL. We used to sled ride down the hill in front of the houses on my street and it felt - then - like miles. My daughter didn't ACTUALLY call me a "p****" but I could see it in her eyes.
I used to play wiffle ball on the side of the house, then when I got older, dad made it into a parking area for the cars, and I look now and I think "man, that was a SMALL wiffle ball game, and how the hell did I get a car in there?" My grandmother's house - which was right up the street - was even worse; I've literally seen garden sheds that look bigger.
Same with my middle school (the same school the Sandy Hook survivors used as a temporary school). I remember getting my bike and riding around that school and thinking it was like Charlotte Motor Speedway. I remember playing baseball on the back field, and the rocks out in left field being so far. Again, my daugher and the "look".
Those rocks were like the Green Monster in Fenway. I wanted to go get a bat and ball and hit one out there right then.
And the funny thing? Many of those memories are when I was older and should have adapted to the size. It must be from living in cities since then, I don't know.